Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: The Christmas Lights Battle

AUTHOR: Skylar M. Cates

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 212 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 5, 2018

BLURB:

A Shelby Beach Romance.

For a single dad and his neighbor, the Christmas competition is on!
Julian Moss wants to give his children a happy Christmas. Since his divorce, Julian has no time for a social life; he’s been doing the tiring work of two parents while his cheating ex-husband dodges his responsibilities. If that isn’t stressful enough, he has to deal with his new—and ridiculously good-looking—neighbor and his noisy dogs. Christmas used to be Julian’s favorite holiday, but lately all he sees is the cost. Then Julian’s young son tells him about a Christmas lights competition with a much-needed prize.
Leo Adams is going to be alone for Christmas…again. All he’s ever wanted is to be accepted by his family, but he knows that will never happen. Deciding to focus on his career as a personal trainer, Leo develops a boot camp program on the beach, but he needs publicity. The lights competition offers Leo a way to get some free press, and if it annoys his snooty neighbor Julian—all the better.
The battle is on, and both Julian and Leo want to win. The stakes are high, the reward is great, and the neighbors are in it to win it. There’s nothing like a little competition to make Christmas at Shelby Beach extra merry and bright.

REVIEW:

I didn’t see one mentioned but I could have missed it. There is talk of conversion therapy in here towards the end. It is very brief and doesn’t go into detail, but it’s still there. If it’s a trigger, please have a care for yourself and be careful. Otherwise….well, yeah, it still pulls at the heartstrings. It’s a good book, but it’s emotional. Christmas is the one time of year when it seems to be the worst for some people. People who don’t have families for one reason or another, it’s a hard time. When other aspects of your life are rough as well, it seems double or triple hard.

For Leo, it was super hard. Christmas reminded him of things he wished he could forget. He tried to stay happy and smile. He loved his new business venture but trying to get it off the ground was hard. Especially when all those fears crept up and tried to choke him. What no one seemed to understand was underneath those tanned muscle and happy smiles, beat the heart of a man with huge fears and doubts. And a past, that although therapy helped, still got to him some days. When he caught wind of the Christmas Lights contest, he thought it would be good for him if he won. He could use the publicity. But winning meant he had to go against his uptight neighbor, who intrigued him like no one ever before. And what made it worse, is if he could get through to this guy to even remotely have a chance, who he look down on Leo for what he needed?

For Julian, life was all about his kids. The divorce had left him with all kinds of questions and doubts about himself. He was trying to be what his kids needed but his ex pulling his stunts seemed to make things even worse. One step forward with the kids, but after his ex, it was like 3 steps back. He was so tired. He really didn’t want to do this contest, but to see the look on his kids faces, he couldn’t disappoint them. But could he get past working side by side, as far as houses, with a man he was trying to pretend to not like. Truth was, Leo really intrigued Julian, but after being hurt so bad by his ex, and his kids, he didn’t know if he would ever be able to take the risk.

My heart broke for these two. There are funny parts but honestly, for the most part, it was tense for a while and full of confused and hurt feelings. Both had huge bad pasts and while the wore their hearts on their sleeves, they also had self-defense mechanisms that came across wrong. Especially Julian. He came across very cold, harsh and cruel. For Leo, it was another step into a flashback of his past. But Leo couldn’t stop trying. Julian couldn’t stop spying out his window. At some not so gentle prodding from his family, Julian finally had to agree maybe it was time to take a chance and take a step in a new direction. For Leo, it was like a dream.

I will never tire of hearing the phrase, ‘Family isn’t always blood, but what you make it.’ I know I’m paraphrasing there but you get the point. Both of these men had to learn there was more to family than blood. For their sake. They had to learn to trust, to hope, and to let go. Move in a new direction. Trust their hearts. It’s never an easy thing to do, but if it’s right, the outcome can be so worth it.

This was a good book. I recommend it. But it’s not just a happy, happy Christmas story. It’s about real life even though it’s fiction. But it’s so worth it.

RATING:  

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